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3.08.2009

i love the quietness of sunday morning. it's 7:47 am right now, and still i hear only the heat the just came on. soon enough folks will begin moving around, and the peace that now exists will be gone.

the series that we are on at PORTICO, Jesus: An Original Biography, is challenging the way we all look at him. it is too easy to think that given a situation, or some facet of his character that we've learned or heard about is all that there is to him. but if that were true, he would be a sad kind of god.

“On our way to Lazarus’ tomb we stumble on still another question. Jesus approaches the gravesite with the full assurance that he will raise his friend from the dead. Why then does the sight of the tomb trouble him? Maybe the tomb in the garden is too graphic a reminder of Eden gone to seed. Of Paradise lost. And of the cold, dark tomb he would have to enter to regain it. In any case, it is remarkable that our plight could trouble his spirit; that our pain could summon his tears.

“The raising of Lazarus is the most daring and dramatic of all the Savior’s healings. He courageously went into a den where hostility raged against him to snatch a friend from the jaws of death. It was an incredible moment. It revealed that Jesus was who he said he was—the resurrection and the life. But it revealed something else. The tears of God. And who’s to say which is more incredible—a man who raises the dead…or a God who weeps?”

and this morning, as i sit here with so many things weighing on my heart, i cannot decide which Jesus i need more... the one who has the power to do anything, or the one who cares so deeply about us...

which is why it is so amazing that he is both. i never have to choose.